DEER CREEK — The last weeks of 2013 were as much a building up as a counting down for gun owners eager to apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Illinois.

When the state became the last in the nation to approve legislation allowing citizens to carry concealed firearms, a rule-making process was started to develop a framework for providing the first training courses ahead of the Jan. 5, 2014, date state police began accepting applications for permits.

That timing translated into a flood of applicants throughout the fall seeking to enroll in the 16-hour state-mandated courses and the paperwork necessary to apply.

In places such as the Deer Creek American Legion Post 1276, that demand meant booked weekends for the banquet hall — and the new firing range built out back.

Among the group of state-certified concealed carry instructors in Tazewell County who use the facility were Kevin Moody, an engineer, former Marine and firearm instructor who taught concealed carry courses in Michigan; and Ken Simmons, a retired police officer with national concealed carry training certification who had a hand in developing the state law through the Illinois State Rifle Association.

“The bottom line is we’re going to teach you how to use a firearm as a tool of last resort,” Moody said at a weekend training session in November. “You’re not shooting to kill, you’re shooting to live.”

In the months leading up to the implementation of the law, instructors found themselves in uncharted territory. Instructors such as Simmons, who have been involved in law enforcement, already were allowed to carry a concealed weapon in Illinois because of their previous employment, while those such as Moody, despite being certified to teach the courses, could not because the permitting process had not yet started.

And though the state approved a mandated set of materials that must be reviewed in each 16-hour training session, the curriculum used to meet those requirements is up to each instructor. Courses cover topics from handgun fundamentals to details of the Illinois law to a live-fire qualification round.

Basics and beyond

Moody and Simmons filled the first eight hours of classroom training with the National Rifle Association’s Basic Pistol Course, an established curriculum that counts toward concealed carry training in other states and teaches the mechanics of a firearm and how to clean it, as well as a set of principles for how to safely handle guns.

There are three basic tenets: always keep a gun pointed in a safe direction; keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire; and keep the weapon unloaded until ready to use. Other variations include a fourth principle: always know your target and what is beyond it.

The second eight-hour portion of the training course dealt with restrictions in the law, particularly areas where concealed firearms remain prohibited, such as government buildings, schools, playgrounds and most large public gatherings.

Page 2 of 2 - The one exception in those prohibited places is parking lots.

“You may enter a parking lot with a concealed firearm, even in a prohibited place,” Moody said.

But concealed firearms may only leave the vehicle for the limited purpose of transporting them to the trunk of the vehicle to be stored, he added. And under state law, the firearm must be unloaded inside the vehicle before it is moved to the trunk.

“Most negligent discharges happen when a firearm is being loaded or unloaded,” Simmons said. “Leave it in the passenger compartment.”

Yet that advice, too, comes with a caveat. The firearm must be securely cased and out of view.

When to shoot?

The final portion of the 16-hour training includes a session on legal requirements for use of force, exercises on drawing a weapon from concealment and live-fire qualifications on the range.

State law mandates a shooter be able to hit the center portion of a silhouetted target seven out of 10 times from distances of 5, 7 and 10 yards. That portion of the training takes 30 minutes or less for groups of shooters, and most in Moody’s first classes qualified on the first try.

All who attended the $225 courses — with class sizes ranging from 16 to 28 people — in the month of November earned certification for a concealed carry permit.

Moody and Simmons, however, encouraged further training and regular dry- and live-fire practice to anyone who pursues a permit and carries a concealed weapon.

The decision whether to use that weapon will have to be made in an instant, and will depend on the quality and quantity of training, both instructors warned.

“If you have time to think about whether you should, you shouldn’t,” Moody said. “You’re a different person now — not physically or mentally — you have a different moral obligation.”